Hot Chocolate for the Soul
by miekhead
Summary: When Claudia struggles to come to terms with an anonymous gift, Leena soothes her in the only way she knows how.


Prompt: Hot Chocolate, requested by truenorfolk. tumblr. com

xoxoxox

The incessant typing was getting annoying. Leena looked up irritably from her armchair and sighed a little louder, hoping that Claudia would take the hint. Nope, the tapping sounds just got louder. Placing her knitting needles on her lap, the dark skinned woman stared for a long while, trying to get Claudia's attention.

Then came the grumbling. A concoction of "you frakking knob-face," mixed with phrases similar to "you mother-fudging ass hole," echoed around the room.

After an anonymous donator had placed a vast lump sum of money into Claudia's personal savings account, the redhead had been up day and night, trying to find out more about it. The thing was, nobody knew who it could be. This obviously led to the young woman searching long and wide, attempting to hack into any bank credential files she could get her nifty fingers on. Nothing worked. Whoever had given the money knew their shit.

Finally, Leena couldn't take anymore, and she got up, placed the scarf she was knitting for Artie on the side table next to her, and she left the room in a huff.

Claudia looked up briefly and mumbled angrily to herself. She hated who she'd become in the last week. Over her birthday, things had been great. When the money appeared as if by magic at 10:48 that evening, from a wired transfer over from Russia, she pulled a downer and knew she was testing everybody's patience. She was grumbly, she knew that much, and her answers had become shorter, more snappy.

She jumped when she felt a warm body cover her back, what felt like breasts pressed up against her shoulder. "Here…" cooed the softly spoken voice. She looked down to see her favourite Snoopy mug, filled to the brim with hot cocoa, five marshmallows and coated with chocolate sprinkles placed carefully into her lap. "Shut up, stop typing and drink."

Claudia sighed and looked up to see the innkeeper hovering over her with a harried expression. "Yes, ma'am," she finally grinned but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Leena frowned at the worry lines on the young woman's forehead and the bags under her eyes. She relaxed, however, when Claudia leaned back against the dining chair and took a slurp of her hot chocolate. "Thank you." Claudia mumbled. The innkeeper just smiled back. "I'm sorry…"

Leena hesitantly reached over and pulled back a tendril of the redhead's hair, then tottered around the couch to kneel in front of her. "What can I do?"

"With…?" Claudia took another sip of her hot chocolate, smiling when the foam of melted marshmallow stuck to her upper lip. She licked it off with an even wider grin. The drink alone was helping lift her mood.

Leena gave a small shrug, still bent down on the floor in front of the younger woman. "Helping you… Making you feel better. You have no idea where it came from?"

"Honestly?" Claudia groaned, "no. I have no freakin' clue. I'm hoping it's some long lost gramps who has nowhere else to put his life's earnings… Myka thinks it's H.G." she said, a sad gaze capturing Leena's attention for longer than was required. Claudia looked down at the woman's hand on her knee and shook her head, ridding herself of the selfish thought. She took hold of the hand and squeezed. "Thank you for the drink."

"Any time." Leena smiled. So did Claudia. She looked down at the soft hand in hers, her thumb tracing over a few scattered moles, the odd scar here and there; the cause long forgotten. _Probably from cooking_. Claudia wrinkled her nose at the thought, a faraway smile on her face as her thumb rubbed the skin with feather light touches. Leena watched her carefully, frowning when Claudia blocked off her aura. She'd been doing that a lot recently - it was as if she had a mute button, and could stop Leena from seeing how she felt, like now. The shield was well and truly up.

Without completely processing what her body was doing, the Claudia placed her mug down on the desk next to them and touched Leena's chin, pulling her closer until their lips touched. Time froze until Leena realized what was happening. "Clau-mmffh." For a second, flight kicked in and Leena pulled her face away but fight eventually won over and the innkeeper closed her eyes as she tasted the sweet residue of marshmallow on Claudia's lips. Their kiss deepend, both women taking note of these completely intoxicating sensations. The computer genius tugged until the woman found herself straddled over her lap, knees touching hips. "This is crazy…" Leena whispered.

Claudia let out a small laugh. "In our world? Nothing's crazy," she leaned forward for another kiss, pleased that this time the innkeeper didn't say anything - she just accepted the kiss with a gentle stroke of her tongue. The women lay down together, Claudia on top, her head resting against Leena's chest as they continued to make out until the redhead bolted upright, causing Leena to startle.

"Wh-what's the matter?" The fingers that had been drawing circles against the small of Claudia's back froze.  
>Claudia merely shrugged and leaned over to pick up her cup with a grin. "Don't want my drink to get cold." She took a noisy slurp, then another, then gulped down the rest of the sweet concoction that she swore had a bit of mystical juju. It just tasted too good. "All better."<p>

"Nice?" Leena smiled, trying to settle her heart. This still felt a little wrong, but her fingers unconsciously began to draw circles again.

"Yeah, you want a taste?" Claudia giggled and lay back down, licking her lips before she started on Leena's once more.


End file.
